Paper Example on Police Gratuities: Debates Between Practitioners and Academics

Introduction

Gratuity is anything offered voluntarily or far away from obligation usually for some service. Recently there has been a lot of debates about between police practitioners and academics on dangers presented by police acceptance minor gratuities (Corley, 2005). Some people claim this act is harmless, and others do it thinking that they might strengthen the vow between the general police the police. On the other hand, some individuals say that police obtaining of gratuities may lead to inefficiency and corruption in administrative policing. Police often face the dilemma of taking gratuities. Some officers consider receiving discounted meals and free coffee as an entitlement, whereas others regard it as unethical. This discussion will involve an interview with police from the administrative police department regarding his views about receiving gratuities.

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Department's Official Policy Related To Graft and How It Is Enforced

The cop informed me that the policy affiliated to gratuities is that, the department's policy shall not take any gift, or any other item if it appears that the individual giving the gift is trying to induce the police to do unethical action in return (Ruiz, 2004). Thus this policy means that all police officers in the administrative police department are not supposed to accept the gift of any form from people who have the intention to influence the police to commit corruption.

The policy is enforced to all polices by ensuring that they have read and understood it. The police officer informed me that the department head has occasionally been explaining this policy to all police to ensure that they have comprehended it (Ruiz, 2004). The department also keeps spying on cops now and then to investigate whether they are following the policy. The department has also has imposed severe punishment and penalties for any police found not following the rules. The department has also tried to enforce the policy by not keeping one police to work in the same post for a long time. It keeps rotating them to ensure that the police don't get used to people they serve who, in turn, can start tempting them with gifts or gratuities.

Unofficial Code Regarding GratuitiesUnofficial code concerning gratuities relates to accepting gifts that are forbidden by the policy (Newburn, 1999). Police will be breaking the code of ethics when they receive bonuses, which is regarded as unofficial code. Actions such as breaching the contracts, deceiving, allowing friends to influences your decisions, and taking gifts, are primary unofficial codes regarding gratuities.

According to the officer, he feels that he should be permitted to take little gratuities such as discounted or free coffee and meal. He defended this suggestion by the fact that many people who give gifts do not always have the intention of corruption but feel they own some debt to police and pay it through offering gratuities (Kania, 1988). When gifts are provided in these types of situations, where the motive of the provider is to appreciate the officer for the services and the latter's aim is to create a good relationship, the officer thinks it is ethical.

Description of the Interview With Police Regarding Acceptance of Gratuities in the Administrative Police Department

During the interview with police, he informed me that the cops should be allowed to take gratuities of nominal value, for example, notebooks. This is because there are laws that forbid them from accepting gifts of high value that may influence their decisions in the future. The polices pointed out that they should be allowed to decide on their own on whether to receive gratuities or not. He argued that obtaining free coffee may help strengthen community relationships. Refusing minor gifts may harden the current building bridges of adverse relationships between community and police. Gratuities are given with motive of future, but the cops defended this by informing me not to contradict gratuity with gifts. The officer further told me that the intentions of offering and accepting gratuities depend on the grounds and attitudes of the parties informed. The bonuses would be ethical if a positive relationship had already been formed between the receiver and the giver.

Two basic Arguments Against Acceptance of Gratuities

Slippery Slope Argument

The basis of the argument is that receiving even little benefit will begin an inexorable slide to severe corruption. The only varying factor in taking $1000 and a cup of coffee is the impact of wrongness (Kania, 1988). Immediately police develop the habit of accepting free things; it will be most likely easy for him to receive even larger gratuities. A single bonus may be small, but the effect of cumulative is more significant. A coffee dealer offering a free cup to police will get a disproportionate quantity of police service at the expense of other dealers. The cops require the aid of the community to carry out their job correctly.

Polices are believed to be an open group to fight crime but not a bundle of coffee borrowers to undertake their responsibilities. No proof taking gratuities will steer to high levels of corruption. However, all corrupt indeed polices accepted little prizes at the start of their career, and many police indeed accept gratuities. It has not affected their integrity and honesty. Many stories existed of last generations' officers who refused gratuities from people and the decision to start proactive enforcement with unfavorable establishments. The apparent problem was the establishment of giving discount meals and making police get used to paying little. Therefore slippery argument, argues thoroughly against police accepting gratuities since this act leads to more severe corruption, mainly where the law develops the habit of getting something to perform his responsibilities.

Remove Temptation Argument

The argument states that not every police can exercise the right judgment concerning what is expected to be reasonable to accept, therefore enabling the organization to avoid temptation together. Every gift, regardless of how small it is, builds an obligation when regularized in the police department (Shamir,1984). Every police who agrees to take gratuities gets themselves into a slippery slope, where the temptation becomes bigger and refusing becomes more difficult. Most people will offer prizes to police because they want to encourage a more significant presence of them in their vicinity. However, this argument forbids police from such behavior, and they supposed to avoid acceptance gratuities at all costs.

My Opinion Regarding Police Acceptance of Gratuities

From the interview, I believe that police should not accept gratuities because this behavior leads to more significant corruption in the police department where integrity and honesty will be lost. The department's policy states clearly that it would not allow any police to accept any gratuities since this is the main base for corruption. Taking of prizes leads to more crucial breaches of ethics in law enforcement since the police will not follow enforced laws. Law enforcement requires all participants to be ready to act according to rules. The slippery slope argues that receipt of gratuities is a gateway to more corruption. Police are essential people in our community, and therefore they should be responsible and honest in their job (Shamir,1984). Consequently, I therefore recommend the administrative police department to formulate strict measures such as severe punishments for all police that accept gratuities.

References

Corley, M. (2005). Gratuities: There is no free lunch. FBI L. Enforcement Bull., 74, 10. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/fbileb74&section=94

Kania, R. R. (1988). Should we tell the police to say "yes" to gratuities?. Criminal justice ethics, 7(2), 37-49. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0731129X.1988.9991839

Newburn, T., & Webb, B. (1999). Understanding and preventing police corruption: lessons from the literature. http://tvernedra.ru/Pretotvkorvpolice.pdf

Ruiz, J., & Bono, C. (2004). At what price a "freebie"? The real cost of police gratuities. Criminal justice ethics, 23(1), 44-54. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0731129X.2004.9992160

Shamir, B. (1984). Between gratitude and prize, an analysis of tipping. Annals of Tourism Research, 11(1), 59-78. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0160738384900963